Weeping Winds Of Change

Last month it all began rather quietly when a young man in Tunisia was tired of lacking work, lacking respect for himself as a human, and turned himself into a torch of anger. Demonstrations broke out all over the land and people demanded the ouster of their long time leader as they fought for the rights of self determination. Eventually, one tyrant was gone. The winds of anger swept into Egypt as hundreds of thousands were in the streets, men, women, imams, secular supporters and, finally the military. During these initial stages of protest, the armed forces hesitated to use their weapons, and as more and more people revealed their anger, the military finally got the message and swung over to the side of change. Libya was hit by events to the east and son thousands were in its streets. But, they encountered something new- a dictator who refused to leave. This resulted in the current fighting and deaths in Libya and intervention by the United Nations.

Finally, the winds hit Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria, western components of the Arab world. In Yemen, the military has divided, people are fighting with one another, and in Bahrain, its Sunni King summoned help from neighboring Sunni Saudi Arabia in order to put down the anger, not only of moderates, but that of the oppressed Shiite minority. Now, demonstrations have erupted in Syria, a stronghold of the secularist Baath party which is not prone to surrendering any aspect of its power. There are reports of death even as thousands march for democracy. But, this is the party of Bashar al-Assad, whose father killed 20,000 people in the 1980s who dared to oppose his rule. There will be more deaths.